You are here

Israel to Congress: Include Us in Sequester Cuts

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel has asked Congress not to exempt it from aid cuts under the sequestration.

Budget sequestration, a law passed in 2011 and triggered in March of this year when Congress and the administration failed to agree on a budget, mandates across-the-board cuts of about 8 percent. Israel has requested that any budget cuts apply equally to the defense assistance it receives annually from the U.S. government.

“The Israeli position is, as I understand it, we don’t want to be in the position if there is a percentage reduction that we will not be affected in the same way,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the minority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, said in an interview Aug. 8 from Israel, where he was leading a delegation.